“If somebody wants to eliminate Bimal Gurung, or for that matter anyone, I shall protect him. The GJM led by Gurung was an ally, it still is,” Ahluwalia said on Friday.

Darjeeling’s BJP MP and Union minister of state S S Ahluwalia still considers the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha faction led by Bimal Gurung as an NDA ally.(HT File Photo)

Responding to Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s (GJM) demand for his resignation, BJP MP from Darjeeling and MoS, drinking water and sanitation, S S Ahluwalia, said on Friday that he was elected by the people and not by an individual.

Ahluwalia’s response came at a press conference in Siliguri, where he inaugurated a Passport Seva Kendra on Saturday. He is visiting his constituency after eight months.

“Unless he tenders resignation and seeks apology, Ahluwalia could face protests from the aggrieved people in the hills. When people were suffering the local MP remained a spectator in Delhi,” said GJM leader Binoy Tamang on Thursday.

Tamang is the government-appointed chairman of board of administrators in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA). He is known to be close to the ruling Trinamool Congress. With the absconding GJM president Bimal Gurung charged with terrorist activities, Tamang and his associates now control the local administration.

“Ahluwalia is visiting his constituency as a tourist after eight months. He has lost the moral right to visit the hills,” alleged Tamang.

“I shall come again after the budget session in Parliament is over,” said the MP.

GJM is an ally of the NDA. Without GJM’s support, neither Jaswant Sinha nor Ahluwalia could win the Lok Sabha seat in 2009 and 2014 respectively.

The political situation in the hills has however undergone a sea change since mid -2017.

With about a year to go for the next general elections, GJM now stands vertically split. The Binay Tamang faction and Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), the second largest party in the region, now share a cordial relation with the ruling Trinamool.

On Friday, Ahluwalia expressed his support for Bimal Gurung. “If somebody wants to eliminate Bimal Gurung, or for that matter anyone, I shall protect him. The GJM led by Gurung was an ally, it still is,” he said.

Manoj Dewan, the BJP Darjeeling (hills) district president, said, “Tamang, who does not enjoy people’s mandate, has no right to speak against Ahluwalia, who has the people’s mandate.”